


Trip Across Texas

by AAfan



Series: Texas connection [1]
Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Child Sameen Shaw, Could Be Canon, Mushy, Origin Story, Pre-Canon, Root | Samantha Groves Backstory, early 1990s, mention of Root's mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAfan/pseuds/AAfan
Summary: A 13 year-old Root/Samantha takes a trip to El Paso where she meets a young tomboy who is also different.
Series: Texas connection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077446
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	Trip Across Texas

Ever since her only real friend was murdered, Samantha Groves has no reason to hang around in Bishop, Texas, a town with very little to do. Although she is only thirteen years old, she has gotten used to being alone. It’s not that she doesn’t want friends, but she would rather be by herself than to be around others while they all shunned her. The truth is, Samantha is gifted, not just extremely smart, but truly in a class of her own, and none of the other kids in town could understand her or relate to her. They make up nasty rumors about her and mock her for countless reasons. It is true that she never knew her father, has an unwell mother, is socially awkward, and so far lacks the physical development that most of the girls her age had at least started to show. She can’t change any of that about herself, but she can choose to do things or go places where she could be herself without being judged. Even the adults in the entire community avoided her and her mother as much as possible. No one in town wanted anything to do with them. Hanna had been the only one who would sometimes invite Samantha to hang out with her at the library, and she still misses Hanna every single day. 

Her mom cares about her and means well, but is incapable of doing any actual care giving because she has so many of her own issues and can’t even take care of herself, let alone Samantha. The monthly government checks barely cover rent and food, and that had meant sometimes, oftentimes, her mom had had to go without medication. Often, paranoia would set in, and Samantha would be forced to leave until things calmed back down. By the time she was twelve years old, Samantha had started to bring in some money on her own so that they could afford her mother’s medication, but then there was also the problem of having her mom actually take the medicine properly. When lucid, her mom could see how smart her only child was, and told her to follow her talents. When she showed concern for how Samantha was getting the extra money, Samantha simply told her mom that she was working with computers and that it wasn’t always going to be regular money, but she enjoyed it and would do her best to help. 

As Samantha honed her hacking skills, she was finally able to buy herself a used Honda XR100 dirt bike with the money she had been able to scrape together after buying her mom’s medicine and paying the monthly bills. Now she had the freedom to go places, to see things beyond her small little town. Sometimes she would disappear for a few days and no one would think anything of it. Ever since she was little, it hadn’t been uncommon for her mother to get so sick that Samantha needed to be taken out of school and put into a care home for weeks at a time. Samantha was always well ahead of the class in terms of schoolwork anyway, and no one ever thought to check up on her or her mother. She never left her mother alone for more than a few days though in case anything happened, but Samantha also needed to take care of herself as no one else would or could. 

For this particular trip, she decides to ride across the state, all the way to El Paso. She had already been to the closer big cities like San Antonio, Houston and even Dallas, and wanted to see what was out toward the west side. When she gets into the city, she stops at a gas station convenience store to buy a local map. As soon as she gets off her bike, she is harassed by three boys between the ages of ten and thirteen who are skipping school. The boys had been hiding out near the back of the store, sharing a cigarette among them until they saw Samantha ride by and stop. They demand that she give them her bike and back Samantha up against the wall, threatening to burn her face with the cigarette if she doesn’t give them the ignition key. 

Just then, a smaller kid wearing a baseball cap approaches the boys from behind on a skateboard and before the boys notice, the biggest one falls to the ground after being hit in the head with the skateboard, dropping the cigarette. As one of the other boys tries to grab the smaller kid, the kid elbows him in the nose and then hits him in the ribs with the skateboard causing him to double over in pain. As the third boy charges, the kid quickly ducks a punch and then kicks the boy in the groin which results in a loud screaming cry. Rubbing his head and still a little disoriented, the biggest kid gets up, and looks at what seems like a little runt with a few tresses of long wavy hair that is now hanging out from under a baseball cap. The gas station attendant comes out to see what the commotion and screaming was all about and the boys run away, not wanting to get caught skipping school and not wanting anyone to know they were just beat up by a girl smaller than them. 

The attendant asks the girls if they are alright to which they reply in the affirmative. The tomboy tucks her hair back into her baseball cap as they follow the attendant into the store, while he asks them why they aren’t in school. The older girl lies about being on vacation and that their families were at the restaurant around the corner and that they came in to buy a local map. As Samantha converses with the attendant and asks him what there is to see around the city, she keeps an eye on the little tomboy who walks back and forth between the chips display and the large freezer holding the frozen treats. The tomboy, needing to make the dollar in her pocket last until the end of the week, finally picks a purple ice pop, and digs a hand into her pocket for the money but can’t find it. Samantha goes to the freezer and takes out a Drumstick ice cream treat and a bag of chips and pays for everything including the purple ice pop. The tomboy normally wouldn’t have accepted the gesture, but she really wanted a cold treat on this sweltering hot day, and she figured the ice pop wouldn’t set this girl back too much, seeing a few crisp $100 bills in the girl’s wallet when she opened it to pay. She is curious how a girl just several years older than her could have that kind of money when it is obvious she doesn’t come from a wealthy family. 

The older girl folded the map and put it in her back pocket before picking up the ice cream and bag of chips off the counter while the attendant cut open the ice pop for the younger girl. Once outside, the older girl says, “Thanks for helping me out,” as she hands the Drumstick ice cream and chips to the tomboy. “And here’s your dollar back,” she adds with a smirk, pulling a dollar bill from her pocket and putting it back into the tomboy’s pocket. “You need to be more careful. You’re an easy target for pickpockets.” 

The tomboy thinks to herself, who is this girl? How did the girl figure out her favorite frozen treat and flavor of chips? And of course that explains why she is carrying so much money. She’s a criminal. Still, she seems nice enough. She must have a good reason for doing what she does. "You’re one to talk about being an easy target. You should learn some self-defense. I imagine that doing what you do, you’ll need it. Maybe learn to shoot a gun or something. Even if you don’t carry, if someone threatens you with one and you can somehow get it from them, it just might save your life.”

“Are you offering to teach me? How’d you learn to fight like that anyway?” the older girl asks, surprised the little girl isn’t judging her for being a thief, but rather, giving her some good practical advice. 

“We move around a lot. I seem to get into scraps at school a lot no matter where we go. I’m actually on a three day suspension right now and supposed to be grounded at home but I sneaked out to get a treat. My mom is really strict about junk food.” 

“Well, if you want to hang out with me and maybe show me around town a bit, I’ll buy you all the junk food you can eat,” the older girl offers. There’s something about this girl that tells her she’d be good company. 

“You might regret that offer. I may not look like much, but my dad always says I can eat enough to put the local all-you-can-eat places out of business,” says the little tomboy.

“I believe you,” Samantha says with a smile, impressed with how fast the tomboy finished the ice pop, the ice cream bar and bag of chips. “What’s your name?” 

“I’m not supposed to give my name to people I don’t trust,” the tomboy says. 

“You don’t trust me?” the tall girl asks.

“I helped save you from bullies and you steal my money for my trouble,” the smaller girl says curtly. 

“I was just playing with you. I don’t want you to think I’m the damsel in distress type. My name’s….” 

“Don’t tell me. It’s best I don’t know,” the tomboy says bluntly. “And I don’t care what you are, but I know you’re different.” She walks to the tall girl’s bike and runs her hands over it, admiring the beauty. “You know, ever since seeing John Connor riding one of these in Terminator II, I’ve wanted one. Beats riding around on a skateboard, that’s for sure. Did you build this thing yourself? It’s definitely not stock.”

“Sadly no, but I had someone do the work to my specifications,” the tall girl replies. “So you have a crush on John Connor from the movie then?” 

“No,” the tomboy shoots an angry disgusted look at her. “It was just a good movie. Sarah Connor is awesome though.” 

“I didn’t see the movie, but wasn’t she crazy? She was in a mental hospital, wasn’t she?” the tall girl asks as she mounts the bike. 

“So? You can be awesome and a bit crazy. As long as they aren’t a danger to innocent people, I don’t see why we need to lock them up. The thing is she wasn’t even really crazy, just no one believed her even though she knew the truth.” 

“Are you always this intense?” the taller girls asks. “Come on. I thought you were gonna show me around. Hop on.” 

The girls spend the rest of the afternoon together, riding around town and frequently stopping at places of interest. When stopping at a convenience store for more snacks, they see a Terminator 2: Judgement Day arcade shooting game and decide to play. They make a great team as the tomboy is a great shooter, and Samantha is good at strategizing while being not too bad a shot herself. They finish all seven stages of the mission successfully and avert Judgement Day. 

Next, they play head to head in Street Fighter II: Champion Edition since both were familiar with the popular game. The tomboy chooses to use the character Guile while Samantha uses Vega. Samantha wins the first round, and the second round is generally understood as a mercy round. When they play the third round, Samantha almost beats the tomboy in a perfect round, but doesn’t want to make her companion feel bad so she lets the tomboy get a few hits in before finishing her off. The tomboy gets angry and storms out. 

Samantha doesn’t stop her in time so she follows her outside. “Hey, what’s wrong? I didn’t know you wanted to win so badly,” she says when she catches up, thinking the younger girl was perhaps not used to losing. 

It was true that the tomboy didn’t like losing and rarely ever did lose at anything, but she could take defeat just fine. “You think I’m a sore loser? Forget it. I thought you were cool.”

“I didn’t mean to make you angry. Please, just tell me. I can’t read your mind,” the taller girl says, bothered by the fact that she had somehow upset her companion. 

“You could have finished with a perfect round and then you let up,” the tomboy said angrily. The fact that the older girl had felt the need to go easy on her was insulting. 

“Where I’m from, people don’t like it when I beat them badly at something,” the lithe girl says. 

“I don’t care about any of that,” the smaller girl snaps back. “I’ll only learn to raise my game if I play among the best. I don’t need others to drag themselves down for me.” 

“I’m sorry. I won’t treat you like everyone else. I guess I’ve never met anyone like you,” Samantha says. When the tomboy’s eyebrows are still furrowed in anger, Samantha adds, “That’s a compliment.”

“Whatever,” the tomboy says. “It’s almost dinner time. Can you take me home now?”

“Sure. I hope I don’t get you into trouble at home. I just remembered you said you were grounded,” Samantha says, feeling a little bad. 

“They won’t be thrilled I slipped out but they know they can’t control me. I’ll be fine,” the tomboy says. 

As they near the tomboy’s neighborhood, she suggests getting dropped off half a mile away from her house to avoid any questions about who she has been with all afternoon. As she dismounts and removes her skateboard from where it was secured to the bike, she wonders if this girl might still be in town tomorrow. She didn’t normally care much for company, but this afternoon had been a lot of fun. “Where are you staying? I can sneak out tomorrow if you’re still around and wanna hang out.” 

“Well, I’m glad you’re not still mad at me. I had a lot of fun with you today,” the older girl says, trying to avoid the question. 

“You don’t have anywhere to stay, do you? You can camp out in my backyard if you want. I do it all the time and my tent can fit both of us. Just sneak in when it gets a bit dark.” The tomboy gives her the address. 

“I thought you didn’t trust me?” the older girl smirks.

“I still didn’t give you my name,” the tomboy says as she pushes off on her skateboard and heads toward home. 

It’s 9 pm and the tomboy was starting to wonder if the older girl was going to come after all. For a late night snack, she had taken half of an apple pie with her. Of course her parents would notice in the morning that it was gone, but the homemade apple pie was worth the scolding she would get. She was now considering eating it all herself and then curling up in her sleeping bag for the night. Just then, the willowy figure comes in, carrying a large family-sized bag of chips, a sandwich and an apple. She offers the chips to the tomboy who tears the bag open without so much as a greeting. 

“What kind of sandwich is that? It smells good,” the tomboy asks as she munches on the chips. 

“Do you want half? It’s pastrami and yellow mustard,” the older girl replies, holding out half her sandwich. 

“Thanks.” The tomboy enjoys the first bite so much that she actually slows down eating to thoroughly savor the rest of the sandwich. When finished, she takes out the apple pie and hands a fork to the other girl before cutting the half pie into two equal pieces with her own clean fork. “Hope you like apple pie. My mom made it.” 

“That’s too big! I can’t eat all of that!” the older girl says with a small laugh. 

“Try it and I think you’ll change your mind,” the tomboy says.

“Mmm… you’re right,” the thin girl says after the first bite. Samantha had never tried homemade apple pie before. In fact, she hadn’t had a truly homemade meal in quite some time as canned soup and frozen TV dinners don’t count. The pie tasted so good and for some reason it gave her a nice warm feeling. 

They don’t chat much as they finish eating the pie. Soon, they are both feeling tired and sleepy. The sleeping bag is a little small for the two of them so they have to sleep close to each other, touching shoulder to shoulder. It doesn’t matter as the tomboy always seems to be able to sleep well no matter the circumstances, and Samantha soon falls asleep too, for the first time in a long time, not feeling all alone in the infinite, chaotic and cold world. 

The next morning, while Samantha sleeps in, the tomboy goes into the house for breakfast, and takes some juice and granola bars with her before heading back outside to the tent. Once Samantha has eaten, they go off to the edge of the property where they can’t be seen from the house, and the tomboy teaches Samantha how to shoot a gun. Later, Samantha gives the tomboy a brief tutorial on how to shift gears on the dirt bike. The small girl is a natural so Samantha lets her take over and go wherever she wants. Letting someone else take control and just being along for the ride was thrilling. 

When it starts getting close to dinner time, the tomboy stops the bike half a mile away from her house. “Will you be coming back tonight?” she asks as she dismounts. 

“I wish I could but I have to get going,” the tall girl says. Samantha is sad to go, but she has to get back to her mom to make sure she’s alright. 

“Okay. Well, I better go now. Bye.” And with that, the tomboy heads toward home. 

Samantha watches the tomboy walk down the street for a few moments before she turns around on her bike to go in the opposite direction.


End file.
